The Shattered Mirror
by MRegent.2 and Pangie
Summary: The multiverse shudders and the worlds slide togther, igniting a battle of wills between L, Light and their alternate counterparts. Meanwhile, Yuko is comatose and Watanuki must find a way to return everybody to their worlds without her.
1. The Mirror Shatters

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or XXXHolic or any of their associated characters or fictional locations:

Yuko gritted her teeth in a rare display of frustration. All around her mystical energies raged with all the power of the infinite multiverse. Watanuki stood a few inches away, staring at the shifting orb of power that enveloped the most powerful witch to have ever lived

"Yuko!" Shouted Watanuki, "what's going on?!" Yuko's worried face could be seen through the brief glimses the multicoloured mass allowed in its shifting orb.

Yuko bit her lip as she caught glimpses of the worlds, transparent through the walls of the orb like the bottom of a clear lake. Before her lay two worlds, closer to each other than most others. They showed parallel scenes; in one a pale, rumpled man in a white shirt and blue jeans stood in the rain while a considerably neater brunette teenager ran over to him. In the other it showed a painfully thin brown haired boy in a light brown overcoat staring wistfully into the stormy heavens while a man with long black hair and a casual suit walked purposely forward. Yuko groaned as the energies slowly began to exceed her incredible bounds and swung free.

"YUKO!" Screamed Watanuki as the raging winds of the multiverse suddenly exploded out of the orb and rushed through the store.

*****

Light Yagami stood on the edge of the skyscraper, the rain falling into his ringed eyes. _This is the last sight of the sky I shall ever see_, he thought to himself, _how depressing..._

"Ruuga-san!" Called Ryuzaki, Light slowly turned his head to the black-haired man. He noted for the hundredth time how Ryuzaki's eyes had changed from gentle to mirror-like since he had touched the Death Note. Doubtlessly his memories had returned. The one person who he had ever trusted since the death of his family at the hands of the mafia, besides Watari, would kill him. Light had wondered how he would do it. It was obvious that he would have to use the Shinigami somehow, but how? Still it was no matter, Light knew he had lost the moment Ryuzaki had touched the Death Note. There was no point in trying to avoid it at this point, if he tried to do anything he would only put Mello and Near at a disadvantage later...

"Ruuga, its freezing up here, we're both going to catch colds!" Admonished Ryuzaki as he reached Light, the man's suit becoming sodden in the rain. Ryuzaki L. Lawliet, perhaps the most famous criminal psychologist in the world, was Kira. Light supposed he should laugh at irony.

"The bells..." said Light in his deceptively slow voice, "can you hear them Ryuzaki-kun?"

Ryuzaki shook his head. "Look Ruuga we've got to get inside quick, those are Storm clouds and this is the tallest building for five blocks!" Evidently he did not, _what a pity_, thought Light as his arm was roughly grabbed, reminiscent of the many times their arms had been jarred by each other movements. Light absently raised his thumb to his lip as the church bells echoes faded in his ears.

Suddenly Light felt a jerk in his lower gut. Ryuzaki apparently felt it as well as he suddenly stumbled. Ryuzaki looked at him "Did you.." Light nodded. Suddenly the jerk returned, this time rippling throughout Light's body, his sight doubled like he had been whacked across the head. One of the views showing Ryuzaki falling to his knees beside Light and the other showing a much healthier-looking version of Light and a bedraggled Ryuzaki a few meters away, mimicking their movements. The rain's beating suddenly doubled, a new tempo identical the first but a second behind.

Light gasped as the jerk came came once more, like a train dragging him along, this time it didn't fade. He couldn't move, his senses began spinning out of control, his vision doubled again, then tripled, all showing other Lights and Ryuzakis. The blur of reality began to crush him, pressure pressing on every inch of his body, thousands of images, sounds and smells whipped around him, the only sound consistent was a barely discernible pair of voices screaming. After a few Light realised it was himself and Ryuzaki, then the flashes increased, the sensations on his fingertips changes from burning heat to icy cold in milliseconds, his body experiencing all the extremes at once. Finally his poor, neglected body couldn't take anymore and his mind sank into blissful oblivion.

*****

Watanuki awoke with a thumping head. He groaned before forcing his poor, battered frame into a sitting position. After a few seconds his vision focussed revealing the wrecked room, the paper-panels of the sliding door had been destroyed, the fabric of the bed scorched. The walls were splintered and the floor little better off, in the centre there was an untouched circle, in which lay the groaning lump that was Yuko.

Watanuki shook himself into action, "Maru! Moro! Mokona! Are you okay!?" He called as he slowly stood up, carefully avoiding the splinters sticking out at odd angles. A few seconds later the odd trio peeked from the door frame, the twins normally calm faces anxious and Mokona's few features grave as the saw the battered form of Watanuki crouching beside their mistress.

**Authors Note: Hello people! I've finally gotten my computer back after a long bout whith the cold, I'm still recovering and I'm not even supposed to be on but this dammned plot bunny wouldn't leave me alone, anyway's I'll be updating the rest of my stories again soon!**


	2. Reflections

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, xxxHolic or any of their associated characters or fictional locations.

**The Shattered Mirror**

**Chapter Two**

**Reflections**

The boy on the ground was waking up.

"There are two of them. Why are there two of them? And they're different, but the same. Why? What's going on?" someone was babbling. The boy wished he would shut up.

"Matsuda, shut up," someone else said. The boy would have been relieved that the babbler had been shut up if not for one thing. The latest voice had been his own, but he hadn't said anything.

"Yes, Matsuda. Instead of complaining about how impossible this is, we should consider the reason that there are now two of Light-kun and myself." _That _voice was familiar as well. But Ryuzaki's voice had a different tone in this place. Monotone. Quite like his.

"I think we should focus on who they are, first of all."

"Quite right, Light-kun." That was the second time his name had been used. And what had this monotoned-voice version of Ryuzaki said before?" That there was two of them?

"They may be disguised as us, instead of actually being us," said the other Light.

"You don't really believe that."

"...No."

"Ryuzaki, what exactly is going on?" asked a voice the boy had expected to never hear again. He kept completely still as his father's voice spoke. "There are two versions of my son and I want to know why."

"I have a theory." Stated the monotone Ryuzaki. "It is obvious that they are impersonating Light-kun and myself. But they appear to have the opposite personalities to Light-kun and myself. However they could not have gained the detail necessary to mimic each persona without realising their mistake..." suddenly rapid typing shot around the room. "But If you observe this footage from the top floor you can see that there was a brief point where a mirror-like phenomena occurred, as seen by the many alternating images by myself and Light-kun on this footage. All but one of these images disappeared shortly, leaving only these two behind. I believe that the mirror-phenomena was a number of alternate realities whose events mimicked each others so perfectly that the barriers between the worlds were weakened and the one most like to our own allowed these two to slip through." _Impressive_, thought Light. _I couldn't have said it better myself._

"Another universe?" asked the voice that had babbled on before. Matsuda. "Oh, great, there's another universe. Does that mean there's another Kira? It's hard enough trying to find one!"

"Matsuda, shut up," said the Light of this universe.

Thinking it was about time for him to wake up, the boy said, "yes, Matsuda, shut up." This shut them all up. The boy sat up, stopping the facade of unconsciousness.

"He's awake," pointed out Matsuda in hushed tones.

"He was probably awake long before this," spoke a soft-voiced man from the corner. Despite the fact that they were practically enemies, the boy felt better having some familiar ground.

"Ryuzaki," he greeted flatly. "You are here as well."

"Yes," his old foe began. "I woke up a few minutes ago and, unlike you, I had the courtesy not to eavesdrop."

"So you deliberately tried to be polite? Really, Ryuzaki-kun, trying to be something you're not is an attribute of Kira. Your likelihood of being Kira just increased by two percent."

"What?!" exclaimed the other. "That doesn't even make sense. I've told you a million times, I'm not Kira!"

"Your continual denying of being Kira means a greater likely-hood of you being Kira. Make that increased by three percent."

"Interesting," said a quiet, monotone voice. The L and Light of the other world turned. On the other side of the task-force room (which was the same as their task-force room), where they had presumably been taken after falling unconscious, was this universe's task-force. This consisted of another Matsuda (it seemed even an alternate universe had their village idiot), another Aizawa and, disturbingly, an older version of Light's own father, but also consisted of a few others that the alternate-universe Light and L didn't recognise. The two people that drew the most attention, however, were the two in the centre. There was a brown-haired, neatly dressed boy and a black-haired man with strangely messy hair and black bags under his eyes. It was like someone had taken the L and Light of this world, swapped their roles and characteristics and made them him and Ryuzaki.

"Ryuzaki, what's going on?" Matsuda asked, looking like he was about to cry from confusion when both the detective L and the neatly-dressed one looked at him.

"From what I have seen I have concluded that something in the universe has gone wrong and the result is that the L and Light from another world has been brought into ours," the detective L rattled off easily. Matsuda blinked, his lower lip trembling from the stress of having to compute that there was now two Lights and Ls to deal with.

"Careful not to think about it too hard," said the detective Light.

Aizawa sighed. "I think it's safe to say that they're the real thing. But it's like they are the complete opposite of each other. In this world L is the detective and Light is the one he suspects of being Kira. In their world Light is the detective and L is the one he suspects of being Kira."

"You are correct," the detective Light said to the detective L. "This _is _interesting."

*****

Watanuki gently pressed a damp sponge to Yuko's face. When she had collapsed he had moved her to the most comfortable bed in the place and had been taking care of her since. She had been unconscious all that time. She had gotten a slight fever. Watanuki only hoped it wouldn't get worse.

"Watanuki?" Maru and Moro said as one, looking worried. "The mistress isn't better, is she?"

"No," Watanuki said dejectedly. "She isn't. I only wish I knew why."

"We know," they said, brightening a little.

"You do? Please, tell me," he asked, thinking that there may be a way he could help Yuko.

"The Multi-verse began to collapse..." began Maru.

"...So the mistress tried to stop it!" completed Moro.

"But it was too much for her..."

"...And she was overwhelmed!"

"Wait, so that means that the Mulit-verse has collapsed?" frowned Watanuki.

"The mistress managed to stop it..." This time Moro began.

"...But only for the time being."

"Two universes slid together before she could stop them..."

"...And they will drag the rest of the Muli-verse with them."

"And that would be bad?" asked Watanuki, new to the idea of a Mulit-versal meltdown.

"Everything would go KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!" yelled Maru and Moro as one. Watanuki spared a moment to wonder how much damage his ears were taking from being near the twins.

"But what does this have to do with Yuko collapsing?" he asked in confusion.

"The Multi-verses needed a stable point."

"So they picked Yuko?"

"Yes, because she was so powerful. But she wasn't stable enough, so the Multi-verse had to focus it's power on you as well. You and the mistress together are one stable point!" the twins announced in complete synchronisation.

"Me?" asked Watanuki, surprised.

"Yes, because you are completely individual!" they announced. "There is nobody else like you in Multi-verse!"

"Ah. Okay," nodded Watanuki as he processed this. "Well, then I'll just go to the universes that blended together and separate them...Somehow."

"NO!" yelled the twins. Maru jumped up and smacked him on the head as Moro yelled, "you are the stable point! You can't leave or the universe goes-"

"Kaboom, yeah, I know," Watanuki rubbed his head. "But could you have done that without hitting me? And what about Yuko? Can't she keep the universe stable while I go and fix it?"

"If you leave then the strain of trying to keep the universes steady will kill her," said Maru sadly while Moro nodded.

"So...I have to figure out a way to put everything back where it was without leaving Yuko?" said Watanuki as his heart sank.

"Within seven days," said the twins. "Or the Mulitverse goes KA-BOOOOOM!"

*****

"...So you live by yourself?" Light was asking the alternate L. The first thing they had done was clear up the confusion of names. They couldn't keep calling each other L and Light because that would be too confusing. It had ended up that Light (normal Light) would remain as Light, L (detective L) would remain as Ryuzaki, alternate Light would be called Hideki Ruuga for reasons of his own and alternate L would be called L (he would have been called Ryuzaki but the detective L beat him to it). After this the four, intrigued with their counterparts, began asking them questions. But it wasn't L asking Ryuzaki questions and Hideki asking Light questions. Instead the inter-dimensional travellers seemed more interesting in speaking to the one who they shared the most similarities with. This meant that the two detectives were swapping stories and the neatly-dressed men were chatting.

"You don't?" replied L.

"No. I live with my father, mother and sister," Light told him.

"I am so used to living by myself that living with someone else would become...inconvenient."

Matsuda was watching in horrified fascination as Ryuzaki and Hideki bent over a tray of small cakes that Watari had fetched for them both. Apparently the genius detectives had unusual sugar cravings in both world.

"I find this very unusual," admitted Hideki as he picked up a cake.

"Eating cakes?" asked Ryuzaki, inwardly horrified.

"No. Having someone deliver them without me asking. My Watari has other duties."

Knowing well enough that Hideki wouldn't tell him these duties and having a good idea of what they were, Ryuzaki didn't bother asking about them. Instead he asked ,"so you get your own food?"

"Of course not. Matsuda gets it." At this, Matsuda groaned. The rest of the task-force sat watching the two pairs in silence from the other side of the room.

Eventually Ryuzaki murmured something to Hideki, who nodded. Ryuzaki then spoke, "Hideki and I have been thinking over recent developments and have come to the same conclusion as to why he and L have been pulled from their respective universe." As one, Hideki and Ryuzaki turned around on their swivel chairs, pointed to L and Light and said, "L and Light, you are each world's Kira!"

Without a so much as a split second between them, L and Light groaned at the familiar accusation and face-palmed in exasperation.

"The scary thing is," began Aizawa. "That that entire five seconds was done in complete synchronisation."

Matsuda shuddered. "Oh, god, there really is two of them," he concluded in horror.

**Author's Note: Teehee, we love poking fun at Matsuda, don't we? **

**-XOX, Pangie**

**Author's Note: Once again I'm the one coming up with the plot, Pangie's doing the writing.**

**MRegent.2**


	3. A Possible Solution

I do not own Death Note, xxxHolic or any of their associated characters or fictional locations.

A Possible Solution

Ryuzaki and Hideki sat in the corner, staring at each other. Ryuzaki subtly reached for the tray of mini cupcakes he'd asked Watari for. Watari, who was being exceptionally calm about this, had gotten two trays.

Unfortunately he'd gotten two different flavours, choc-chip and blueberry. They both wanted the other's cupcakes. This meant that, while comparing notes on possible Kira suspects they kept trying to steal the other person's cupcakes.

Hideki's hand shot out and snatched the cupcake Ryuzaki had been reaching for, stuffing it in his own mouth. After a few moments of staring at each other, Hideki was the one who tried (and also failed) to steal one of Ryuzaki's cupcakes.

Neither of them could win over the other.

They knew themselves too well.

*****

On the other side of the room the alternate L and Light were speaking quietly to each other. Knowing that there were two possible Kira subjects near them, the taskforce was listening closely. But what they heard was nothing incriminating.

"...So you father is on the taskforce?" asked L, surprised. "Doesn't that feel strange?"

"To me, it would be odd not having my dad on the task force," Light told him. "What about you? Where are your parents?"

"My parents live in Europe while I travel the world," L told Light.

"Why do you do that?"

"I help out on the toughest cases as the world's leading criminal psychologist," replied L. Light was envious for a moment. Not because he thought the alternative L was any smarter than him. But because it would put him in an even better position to rid the world of evil people.

Then a thought struck Light; _what if the alternate L wasn't the alternative Kira_?

Light quickly thought of a way to verify that the other was the alternate Kira. "I'm curious to see what else we have in common," he began. "Do you have any siblings?"

"No. Do you?"

"A sister."

L looked surprised. He felt envious. _He has a sister? And a father on the taskforce? That puts him in a good position to prove his innocence_. "That's very interesting."

"It is. Do you know someone called..." Light began mentioning a few names of people and teachers from his school. Unsurprisingly, L knew none of them. He gradually moved on to criminals, but ones who wouldn't ring any bells in the taskforce members' minds, one that he had long ago disposed of. He mentioned these as students, though. L realised what he was doing straight away.

Eventually Light asked the key question, "and...who else...Oh! Ryuk. Do you know someone called Ryuk?"

L smiled at him, his face open and friendly. A liar's face had he ever seen one. Just like the one in the mirror. "Ryuk. Yes, I know Ryuk. I know him very well."

Light smiled. "He's an interesting guy, isn't her?"

"That he is. Addicted to apples."

"Hideous."

"Hates boredom."

The two Kiras smiled at each other like two snakes acknowledging the others' existence. Light knew L had to be another Kira, and vice versa.

They knew themselves too well.

*****

Rem had spend the last half hour exploring the building out of curiosity after being pulled into the strange, overly familiar dimension she was now in. She had eventually gotten bored and had begun to make her was back to the human she was trapped with, the one called 'L'. But she had paused when listening to their conversation.

She had puased ecause she was already there.

Or rather, another her was.

She knew all about the odd situation they were in. The alternate Rem floated over to herself.

Rem looked at something which caught her eye.

It was her.

Or rather, another her.

Without further ado she floated over to Rem. Light didn't even notice. And, since he couldn't see her (only the other Rem, who he had not spotted), neither did L. They floated into the next room.

"Rem?" they both asked at the exact same time. "Yes." They continued in complete synchronisation. They paused, observing each other. There were minute differences between the two. Slightly different angles which the hair fell at. Different widths of the eyes. Slight differences that would probably go unnoticed had the two Rems been different people.

"We can not keep calling each other Rem," they both said again.

"I will call myself Alternate Rem, or A-Rem for short," said the alternate Rem. "As I am intruding on your world, it is only fair."

Rem inclined her head. She opened her mouth, ready to say something, when something strange happened.

An energy field appeared around A-Rem. A moment later she wasn't there. Then she was back. Then she was gone again.

*****

In the room Rem had left, L and Hideki were going through the same thing. An energy filled up the room, practically making the walls sizzle. L and Hideki flickered in and out of existence, as if in some strange dance with reality.

*****

"AAAARGH!" yelled Watanuki, making Maru and Moro jump. He had been watching the goings-on with a helpless feeling which kept growing and growing until he felt he was about to explode. "THE ENTIRE MULTIVERSE IS GOING TO COLLAPSE AND YUKO'S STILL UNCONSCIOUS AND I CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!"

"Watanuki looks stressed," Maru pointed out.

"Watanuki should relax," chided Moro.

Watanuki glared at them. "Relax? RELAX? THE WORLDS ARE ABOUT TO COLLAPSE AND I'M SUPPOSED TO RELAX?!" They blinked at him, then looked at each other.

"Relax," they agreed as one.

Watanuki sighed, knowing it was useless to get angry at the two girls. "There must be _something _I can do."

"Well..." began Moro.

"There is..." continued Maru. They traded a glance and said together, "no, it wouldn't work."

"You two," said Watanuki through gritted teeth. "What can I do?"

"No, it wouldn't work."

"Not worth trying."

"Shouldn't of mentioned it."

"Silly of us for saying it."

"Tell me or I will never cook again," threatened Watanuki.

"Watanuki really _is _stressed."

"WATANUKI WOULD STOP BEING STRESSED IF YOU TOLD ME WHAT TO DO!" screamed Watanuki. This seemed to get through to the two.

"If things keeps going..."

"...like this when Princess Sakura and..."

"...the others dimension jump, they..."

"...Will be attracted to the universe you're watching..."

"...like a ship attracted to a whirlpool."

Watanuki rubbed his temples, positive he was going to get a head ache from Maru and Moro's speech. "Go on."

"If Watanuki..."

"...Contacts them..."

"...And convinces them..."

"...to jump to that universe..."

"...they'll immediately jump."

"And after that..."

"...they won't be able to leave that universe until..."

"...multiversal stability is restored..."

"...so they'll have to fix the problem..."

"...or they'll never leave!" Moro finished. "When they finally leave, they'll lose two and a half days..."

"...due to the-"

"I don't need to know any more," moaned Watanuki, now feeling the head ache. "So, I have to trick all of those people into solving my problem? That sounds a little..."

"Underhanded?"

"Cowardly?"

"Manipulative?"

"You aren't helping," commented Watanuki dryly.

"Just tell them there's a feather there!" Maru told him.

"And they'll happily go!"

"Is there one?" asked Watanuki.

"There might be."

"Or not."

Watanuki sighed. "Well, it seems to be our only option at this point."

"We have an option!" rejoiced Moro.

"We have an option!" repeated Maru.

Watanuki sighed. It wasn't really an option. This was all he could do. The only possible solution. He looked at the unconcious Yuko.

"I hope you wake up soon, Yuko."

**Author's Note: **

**Somethig just struck me:**

**MRegent.2 and I really enjoy tormenting our characters.**

**O.O**

**Ah, well. **

**-XOX, Pangie**


	4. A New Development

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note, xxxHolic or the Tsubasa Resovoir Chronicles.

**The Shattered Mirror**

**Chapter Four**

**A New Development**

"Uh...Princess Sakura?" asked Watanuki as he looked through the portal at the Princess Sakura with her forgotten memories which had taken the shape of feathers and at Sayorn, Kurogan and Fai, who were helping her restore them, travelling the multi verse in search of those memory-feathers. Mokona, the stuffed-toy lookalike, was the instrument they used to find the feathers and travel between universes. Both Yuko and the other group had one Mokona each, although Yuko's was black and the other white. Both Mokonas resembled small stuffed toys.

"Oh...Hello," greeted Sayorn, looking surprised. "Where is Yuko, if you don't mind me asking."

_Yes, I mind very much._ "Not at all. She's...busy at the moment," smiled Watanuki, hoping desperately they wouldn't see him sweating. "How are you going?"

"We're going well. We've just found a feather, actually, and were going to spend a little time here before jumping between universes again."

"Oh, well, that's good to hear," babbled Watanuki with a cheerful smile which came out a little twisted. "But -erm- I'm afraid something has come up, and I must...request that you -uh- jump now."

There was a brief silence while the four people deciphered this fast babblement of an explanation.

"What kind of situation?" questioned Kurogane.

"Uh- I can't tell you." Watanuki tried to adopt a mysterious air. "The forces of the universe may be in danger if I do."

They sort of stared at him for a moment.

"...Are you all right?" asked Sakura.

"Great!" Watanuki gave her a thumbs up.

"...Oh. Okay," she said, eyebrows raised a little. "Are the forces of the universe really in that much danger?"

"...Yes?"

"Because you seem stressed out by it."

Watanuki collapsed. "You have no idea."

The four faces looking at him blinked. "I guess we'll just jump now, then," Syaoran said. "Goodbye."

When the portal disappeared Maru and Moro looked at him. "We told you you looked stressed-"

"Shut it." Watanuki sat up, sighing. "That went well."

"It did?" asked Maru.

"Because it didn't seem like it did," Moro continued.

"I was being sarcastic," explained Watanuki. "So when do they lose two and a half days?"

"Now."

"...Huh?"

"Seven days is reduced to four and a half!"

"YOU COULDN'T HAVE TOLD ME THIS BEFORE?" yelled Watanuki.

"We did."

"You just said they'd lose two and a half days. You didn't say everyone else would, too!"

"We thought you'd understand."

Watanuki sighed, the fight going out of him. "I guess it doesn't matter now. I just hope they figure out how to re-stabilise the multi verses in time."

*****

Sakura, Syaoran, Kurogane and Fai arrived in the universe together. They looked around.

"Where are we?" asked Sakura.

"Looks like some of the police stations in other worlds," commented Kurogane, a hand on his sword.

"It does too," agreed Syaoran. They stood in front of the police station. It was raining, and raining hard.

"What do you think that dark-haired guy meant by the forces of the universe being in danger?" pondered Kurogane aloud suspiciously.

"What do you mean?" asked Syaoran.

"How could the universe be in trouble? And there was just something about that guy which made me think...I don't know, that he wasn't telling us everything," scowled the sword-wielding fighter.

"Perhaps we should find some cover?" suggested Fai with his ever-present smile. "We seem to be gettign rather drenched.

There was a round of nods and Syaoran began to answer in the affirmative. "Yeah, we should definitely-"

Mokona's ear's pricked up and his eyes went wide. "Mokona senses a feather!"

*****

Watanuki went over to Yuko. He watched her strained sleep for a while, occasionally wiping her brow. "You hang on," he muttered to her. "Don't die on me, Yuko."

"Ooh, Watanuki is in love!" rejoiced Maru.

"In love!" echoed Moro.

"What the -how long have you two been standing right behind me?"

Moro looked at Maru knowledgeably. "He doesn't deny it."

"Watanuki doesn't deny it."

"I don't deny it because it's ridiculous!" replied Watanuki heatedly.

"Now he denies it."

"Watanuki is in denial!"

"In denial!"

"Denying his love for the mistress!"

"Because he does love the mistress!"

"I don't love Yuko," he snapped. "I just..." His tone changed. "...Don't want her to die."

This silenced Maru and Moro. "Neither do we," they said together, suddenly seeming very small. Seeing Maru and Moro sad and not being able to help them made Watanuki realise how helpless he was acting. Watanuki decided to change that.

"Come on, you two," he said, standing up. "You know Yuko best. Mokona, you too." Mokona had been helping to sponge Yuko's brow. "You guys know Yuko. How do I wake her up?"

"But..."

"But..."

"But..."

"Yes, I know that you said she collapsed from trying to hold up the universe," snapped Watanuki irritably. "And that I can't wake her up, but dammit, that's not going to stop me from trying! Now are you three going to laze around and mourn for her like she's already...Already dead, or are we going to try and wake her up?"

For a moment nothing changed on their faces. Then hope dawned like a sunrise.

"We're going to wake the mistress?" asked Maru.

"Maybe not but, dammit, I'm going to try."

"We're going to wake the mistress!" cheered Moro.

"We're going to wake the mistress!" Maru echoed.

"Yeah!" cheered Mokona.

Watanuki smiled. Then he stopped smiling and started wondering how the hell he was going to wake Yuko...or try, anyway.

*****

"...Okay, just what just happened?" asked Matsuda, sweating a little. "I mean, you guys saw that, right? It wasn't just me?"

"Yeah, we saw it," muttered Aizawa.

"You saw them sort of disappear then reappear? I'm not just imagining things?" Matsuda more stressed than Watanuki had. "Because, if I am-"

"Shut up, Matsuda," said both Lights and Ls at once.

Matsuda shut up.

"Perhaps your universe is trying to reclaim you?" suggested Ryuzaki, eating one of L's muffins unabashedly.

"If that's the case then won't we just have to wait?" asked Hideki, brushing a strand of black hair away from his face. Ryuzaki stared at him for a moment. "What is it?"

"Why doesn't my hair do that?" he wondered. "I mean, we have the same hair...So why is yours neat and mine not?"

"Um...A comb helps," suggested Hideki.

"Ah. That's probably why."

"What...you mean you don't use one?"

"No."

"What...Ever?"

"No."

Hideki was having a little trouble processing this. He couldn't imagine not bothering to comb his hair in the morning. It wasn't out of vanity, just basic things to keep oneself neat and tidy. Light was looking aghast at Ryuzaki as well. Hideki continued, "how long has it been since you're hair has seen a comb?"

"My hair doesn't have eyes, Hideki."

"You know what I mean."

Ryuzaki thought. "Hm...I think I attended a funeral some time last year...I tried combing it then but the teeth snapped."

Everyone was gaping at him now.

"You...You can't be serious," Hideki denied.

"That's really just...ridiculous," Light told the detective in the same tone.

"Really, you think so?" asked L in a slightly surprised tone.

"I think everyone in this room thinks so," muttered Hideki.

"I don't," L protested. "I think it's quite reasonable."

Light looked at him. "You would. How about you, when is the last time you saw a comb?"

"...I passed one in the shops the other day."

"...For the sake of not having to repeat the last conversation, I'm just going to say that that is really, really lazy."

Both L and Ryuzaki mulled this over. It was a little creepy seeing identical expressions on two different faces. Eventually their gazes drifted towards each other.

Ryuzaki looked at L . "Do you think I'm lazy, L?"

"Not at all. Do you think I'm lazy, Ryuzaki?"

"Not in the least."

Light sighed. "It's no use, Hideki. Now there's two of them they'll be even more difficult to argue with them."

"Impossible, I would say," replied Hideki.

*****

"Okay, so let's begin by something Yuko likes-"

"Beer!"

"Beer!"

"Beer," finished Mokona.

"Beer it is," nodded Watanuki. "Could one of you get her favourite brand from the cupboard?"

"Right!" Maru saluted him before rushing off. He ignored the salute.

"So, how do we wake her with a bottle of beer?" he mused.

"Make it so she can smell it," suggested Mokona.

"So just wave it in front of her face? She's lying down. If I try that I'll probably tip it on her."

"That might wake her up."

"Yeah, before she kills me for throwing her favourite kind of beer around. I'll put some in a cup and try waving that in front of her."

"Watanuki had a good idea!"

"Watanuki had a good idea!" Maru repeated what Moro had said as she walked in the room, a bottle in her hand.

"You found some," noted Watanuki. "Okay, just pour it into a cup." She did so. Watanuki took it and wove it in front of Yuko's face. "Yuko?" he called softly. "Come on, you're always drinking this stuff, it's got to do _something_."

"Look closer, I think it is," advised Mokona. As Watanuki kept waving it in front of Yuko, he looked closer and saw that Mokona had been correct. The smell of the beer was relaxing Yuko, as if the grasp on something familiar and loved was letting her stabilise herself. A few moments later and it was less that she was in a strained sleep and more that she was simply restless. A slight frown was all that was left of the almost tortured state she had previously been in.

"Well, at least she's happier," doubtfully pointed out Watanuki. "But I guess we can't rely on alcohol to wake her up." Setting down the cup so it was right next to Yuko, he wondered, _so what now_?

*****

In the other room Rem and A-Rem watched each other.

"What just happened?" Rem questioned.

"I'm not sure. Perhaps it is the universes correcting themselves?"

"Perhaps."

"Where is Misa?" asked A-Rem.

"Why?" replied Rem.

"I am concerned," the other Shinigami said.

"Presumably at home."

"Well, hope she stays there," A-Rem said a little sadly.

"Why?"

"Misa...Both Misas, are already involved in too much danger. Would you have her endanger herself more than she feels she must?"

"I see what you mean," nodded Rem. "But Misa...She will not abstain from seeing Light for long."

A-Rem nodded sadly. "And that is what worries me."

*****

"How about if we try something she _doesn't_ like?" suggested Mokona.

"Oh? Like what?" asked Watanuki. "What does Yuko not like?"

"Icky food."

"Not like Watanuki's food."

"Watanuki's food is yummy!"

"...Yeah, you two are a great help," muttered Watanuki discontentedly. Now they both saluted him.

"Actually, that could be an idea," Mokona piped up.

"What? Gross food?" Watanuki thought about this. "I could try, I guess."

*****

"So what _did_ happen before?" wondered Ryuzaki. "Was it really the universes correcting themselves?"

"It could be," murmured the hunched-over L as he stole one of Ryuzaki's muffins.

"That was my last muffin," Ryuzaki mused sadly before stealing the last of L's.

"What else could it be?" questioned Light.

"I don't know, it could have been anything," fretted Matsuda. "It could have been the universes falling apart!" He waited for everyone to tell him to shut up. Instead everyone looked at him with varying expressions, from shock to thoughtfulness.

"Ryuzaki, could that be what is happening here?" asked Chief Yagami.

"I'm not sure...I don't have much experience in this sort of thing."

"If it is, what can we do to stop it?" Aizawa asked determinately.

"If that is what is happening, the only thing we can do is try and get L and Hideki back to there world," Light told them. "At least, that's the only solution I can see."

"Light-kun is quite correct," agreed Ryuzaki.

"But how would we do something like that?" asked Mogi.

"Good question," L said thoughtfully, sliding a thumb in his mouth.

"I'm sorry, but until we figure out why we were thrown into this universe in the first place then there's going to be no way we can figure out how to throw ourselves back," Hideki explained to all present.

"If it is true that all that is occurring with us now is that we are being thrown back to our universe -by the way, nice pun, Hideki-kun."

"Oh -thankyou."

"If that is happening all we must do is wait. But if the other thing is occurring..."

"We need to figure out a way to get you two back to your original universe," completed Ryuzaki.

"And even if the universes aren't collapsing, then figuring out how to send you guys back will, at the worst, be a waste of time."

The other four members of the task force sort of sat back and looked at them for a moment. Then Matsuda gripped his head. "It hurts having twice the amount of geniuses."

"Genii," corrected the four genii in the room.

"That's what I meant," whimpered Matsuda.

*****

"I'm almost positive this won't work," Watanuki told them. He was holding a bowl of noodles mixed with a rotten egg, some brussel sprouts, some three-week-old-fish ad a range of other foods which Watanuki really, _really_ wanted to forget about.

"It can't hurt to try," advised Mokona.

"Can't hurt!"

"Can't hurt!"

"No, but it may possibly give me nightmares," muttered Watanuki before waving the noxious concoction towards Yuko. "Wakey, wakey, Yuko, or I'm going to feed you some...I don't even know what I would call it...But it's gross so you'd better wake up!"

Nothing happened.

"Try bringing it closer to her face," prompted Mokona.

Watanuki did. Still nothing.

"Closer!"

"Closer!" chanted Maru and Moro.

Watanuki sighed and brang it closer still. Even more nothing. "Look, this isn't working-"

"Maybe a bit closer-" began Mokona.

"A bit closer and it'll be on her! And, with the way this stuff is smelling, it'll probably give her some random disease." He put the food outside, wondering if it would be classified as nuclear waste and decided to immediately burn it the first chance he got anyway. "We're going to need another plan."

*****

Light was wondering something. He walked over to Hideki. Everyone was wondering how they would send Hideki and L back to their world. Light was wondering something different. To satisfy his curiosity he asked Hideki, very quietly, "by chance, did you bring some paper?"

They both knew they weren't talking about ordinary paper.

"One sheet, but wouldn't you have a lot more here?"

"Yeah, plenty," smirked Light.

One sheet of another world's Death Note.

_How very interesting._

*****

"I can only think of one thing to do," reluctantly admitted Watanuki. "It's...It won't work. I know it won't. But, considering our other options, which are kind of non-existent at this point, I guess we don't really have a choice."

"What is it?" questioned Mokona. "What's you plan?"

Watanuki glanced at the three expectant faces which literally looked up to him. He sighed, knowing he was about to disappoint them. "I wouldn't even class it as a plan. I was just thinking that we could all stand around Yuko and yell for her to wake up until she does."

"...That might work" said Mokona eagerly.

"Might work!" chanted Maru.

"Might work!" repeated Moro.

"Okay. Maru and Moro go on either side of her. I'll stand above her. Mokona, you stand opposite me so there's one of us on each of her sides." They all followed his instructions. "Now, YELL, EVERYONE! WAKE UP YUKO, WE NEED YOU!"

"WAKE UP MISTRESS!"

"WAKE, UP MISTRESS!"

"YUKO, YUKO, YUKO!"

"HEY, YUKO, HOW DO YOU EVER EXPECT TO GET DRUNK AGAIN IF YOU DON'T WAKE UP?!"

"WAKE UP AND GET DRUNK, MISTRESS!"

"WAKE UP AND GET DRUNK, MISTRESS!"

"I NEED MY DRINKING BUDDY, YUKO!"

They all shouted together, the noise they were making enough to wake the dead...And hopefully Yuko. Eventually Watanuki spotted something which made him yell, "STOP, EVERYONE!"

Yuko's eyelids had flickered.

Everyone rushed towards her.

"Mistress?"

"Mistress?"

"Yuko?"

"Yuko, are you awake?" asked Watanuki quietly. Yuko's lips moved slightly. They moved again. And again. She was repeating something. Saying something over and over again.

"What's she saying?" asked Mokona.

*****

"Here, the feather is in this building!" Mokona finally said, his eyes large in his small head.

Sakura, Syaoran, Kurogane and Fai looked up at the large complex they'd arrived at. It was a tall building and looked newer than those surrounding buildings.

It was the task force headquarters.

"How do we get inside?" asked Kurogane.

*****

Watanuki leant close to Yuko. His ears caught what she was saying. He leant back. None of the others could see his face, only the way his shoulders stiffened and he suddenly became very, very still.

"Yuko?" asked Mokona as Yuko's lips stopped moving. "She's unconscious again."

Watanuki didn't reply.

"Watanuki? The mistress is unconscious."

"The mistress is unconscious." Maru and Moro alternated, clutching one of his amrs each.

Watanuki still said nothing.

"Watanuki?" asked Mokona. "What...What did Yuko say?"


End file.
